


Child of Death and Fear

by SunlightOnTheWater



Series: Pathways [5]
Category: Supernatural, The Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Childhood Trauma, Gen, POV Riddick, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 15:41:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2156028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunlightOnTheWater/pseuds/SunlightOnTheWater
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam's story comes out in starts and stops and whispers of fear.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Child of Death and Fear

_"I hadn't thought the kid was worth much. He was a hanger on, kept 'round because Jackie girl would'a thrown a fit had I left him behind. Now I've seen what he keeps hidden; the thing he always keeps locked away. He probably should'a kept it hidden, for his sake, 'cause now I'm gonna find out the truth whether he likes it or not."_

* * *

Sam wouldn't talk the next morning. No matter what Jack tried he wouldn't speak. Instead he stayed huddled in on himself, whimpering softly. "I don't know what to do," she told Riddick hopelessly, eyes wide and worried. From the moment the con had stepped back into the common room that connected their three bedrooms he'd known it was going to be a long afternoon.

"Go get a drink and rest some. You're not doin' him any good like that," he told her, studying the whimpering kid with something akin to trepidation. Hell if he knew what to do with the kid but he was aware that Jack needed a break before she had a mental breakdown. Jack nodded and scampered out of the room, leaving him alone with the kid. He settled down close enough to Sam for the kid to know he was there but, theoretically at least, far enough away that he wouldn't feel cornered. Slowly the kid unfolded, proving the con's first guess correct; Jack had been crowding him, making him feel trapped and even more uneasy than he already had been. "What spooked you?" he asked softly and the kid twitched, folding in on himself again. "Come on now," Riddick chided, keeping up a soft and even tone that he hoped wouldn't frighten the kid any further. He didn't have any practice with those sort of things and was flying blind, not that the idea bothered him much. "Don't be that way."

Slowly Sam unfolded a little, studying Riddick with wary eyes. His pale face was streaked with tears and fear had overwhelmed all other emotions that might linger in his eyes. It'd been a very long time since he'd seen eyes haunted like that on young children, since his time in the Rangers busted some child slave ring early on. They'd watched him with the same kind of look. It was almost painful to see. "Deep breaths kid," he said, still keeping his tone calm. "Wherever you think you are, you aren't there." The kid shuddered all over like Riddick's voice was ice water sliding down his back but some of the terror in his eyes started to fade away. "That's it, nice and easy."

The con watched as the cobwebs of fright faded away, the room obviously coming into focus through the kid's eyes. "You back yet?" he questioned. The kid flinched, nodded, and dropped his eyes. Before the obvious submission hadn't bothered him but now, now it tugged at something that most the time stayed quiet. It set both him and the animal inside on edge, making him want to search for any sign of a threat. "You saved Jack," he said after a moment of silence and the kid squirmed nervously.

"Yeah," Sam croaked at last. "'Cept she wouldn't of needed help if I wouldn't of put her in danger in the first place." There was guilt and self-loathing all tangled together in his voice, hands clenching and unclenching where they rested against his thighs. Riddick snorted at that. He'd been blaming the kid for putting Jack in danger, just another reason to loathe him, but the truth was Jack had found trouble all of her own when she'd gone and signed up with mercs after he'd left her.

"Jackie girl can get into trouble all on her own. She doesn't need you to help 'er with that," he informed the kid and watched the tension in his hands relaxed some. The kid was calming down, albeit slowly. Small tremors were still running through the kid that only got worse when Jack scrambled back into the room, eyes brighter than they'd been before.

"Sam," she breathed, eyes lighting up as she took in the sight of him. "You're back." She bounced a step forward eagerly and the kid tensed up like a bowstring on the verge of snapping. Riddick snapped out an arm to stop her and she shot him a confused glance.

"You're cornerin' him Jackie girl," he chided locking eyes with her. "Give 'im a little space." She nodded and sank down next to him, focusing on Sam.

"You saved me," she told him, adoration clear in her voice. "Maybe I don't know what from but I know what you did." Sam shook his head before she'd even finished talking and she frowned at him. "It wasn't your fault Sam."

"Then you don't know anything," the kid barked out with a sharp, brittle laugh. Then he scrambled to his feet, wobbling slightly on unsteady legs before fleeing to his room.

* * *

_"Watchin' the kid was interestin' now that I knew what I was lookin' for. He was startin' to seem less and less like prey to me an' the animal now and more and more like cornered pup tryin' to keep the monsters at bay."_

* * *

Sam didn't emerge for the rest of the day, huddled up in his room obviously recovering from whatever had happened. Jack paced nervously and cast longing glances at his room, looking as if she wanted desperately to go in and comfort him but knew better than to do so. Riddick settled in a chair to wait, knowing the kid would emerge eventually. He was wary now, like a spooked animal, but if neither one of them pressed him he might cautiously make his way back. It was a game the animal side of the con knew how to play very well.

Eventually, as the hours continued their slow march forwards, Jack gave up and went to bed. He could hear her tossing restlessly for a time before she settled down and drifted off to sleep. That was when the kid emerged. His eyes cautiously met Riddick's but he seemed steadier than before, less inclined to bolt provided the con didn't make any sudden movements. Sam's eyes skittered away quickly and he scanned the room, obviously noting every escape route before cautiously entering. Whatever flashback he'd gone through before had spooked him badly. At last he settled in a chair, hunched up in a little ball like he was trying to take up the least amount of space possible.

"Who was she?" Riddick asked when the kid settled and was unsurprised to see him flinch slightly.

"Meg," he croaked after a moment. "That's what _he_ called her anyway." His hands twisted nervously in his lap for a moment before he forcibly stilled them. "She was _his_ daughter."

"Who is he?" Riddick asked and the kid hunched in on himself further, shaking his head quickly back and forth. "Fine, next question. How did you know it was her?" It had become obvious, in the aftermath of what have happened, that Meg had hijacked a body, how nobody knew, and walked around in it. That would make the task of identifying her again difficult. The kid shrugged and Riddick growled, frustrated.

"I can just feel her, like she's under my skin," Sam blurted, looking panicked, and Riddick pressed a hand over his eyes for a moment. He and the kid didn't operate on the same level and while it hadn't been his intention to scare the information out out of the kid but that was what he'd done. "She lives there," he added darkly, shuddering slightly.

"What do you mean by that?" Riddick demanded but the kid was already shaking his head.

"No," he mumbled, shaking all over. "I can't." He gulped, terrified eyes fixed on the con.

"Get some rest," Riddick sighed, setting aside his urge to dig further for answers. Push too far and the kid would break before he learned anything worthwhile. Sam nodded and slunk out of the room, shooting a nervous glance over his shoulder as he went.

* * *

_"Cornered animal or beaten puppy, my animal wasn't sure where to place the kid. Neither spot was exactly good to get answers but I was figurin' out how to deal with both. Learnin' things and storin' them back, all useful like, for later."_

* * *

The next morning Jack managed to convince the kid to eat, chatting the entire time about something she'd read a couple days before. When she wasn't being hunted or trying to prove herself, Jack had a ferocious appetite for any kind of reading material she could get her hands on. Riddick had once found her reading a ship's working manual not long after their first meeting. Sam listened but didn't speak as she prattled on about some kind of old symbols that had been found carved into various materials across several worlds. It wasn't until she began sketching one out by dipping her finger in a glass of dark red juice and drawing on the table that he snapped out of his apathy.

Quick as a snake, Sam's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. "Don't do that," he hissed at her, eyes wild with terror. "If you get blood anywhere on that God only knows what you'll summon."

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked, confused and hurt by his sudden fury.

"The symbols were often carved on stone or other hard materials so they would last and clean easily," the kid said, keeping his head down and his hand clamped down around her wrist. "Blood activates the sigil and calls the creature directly attached to it. All it takes is a little drop and you open a doorway to whatever is waiting on the other side." His hand was trembling slightly and Jack's expression became concerned.

"Sam," she said gently. "Are you okay?"

"You could've called _him_ ," Sam all but whimpered, releasing her wrist. "It could've been _him_."

"Who?" Jack asked, still in that gentle tone of voice.

" _Azazel_ ," the kid whispered, shuddering violently. He shoved the food away from him like it was poison and scrambled to his feet. He only hesitated to wipe the symbol off the table before bolting from the room.

"What did I do?" Jack asked, eyes wide and hopeless, but Riddick didn't have an answer for her.

* * *

_"The mystery kept gettin' bigger and bigger. The kid was all tangled up in knots about the truth and it wasn't unravelin' into a straight line liked I'd hoped. If there was danger comin' right now I'd be the last to know and that wasn't exactly a comfortin' thought."_

* * *

The kid didn't re-emerge until long after dark. Jack was curled up in a chair with a warm blanket wrapped around her shoulders, some book about piloting resting on her knees. Her dark hair had fallen over her face and she glanced up when Sam settled down on the floor next to her feet. She nudged him lightly and he leaned back against her, eyes drifting closed for a moment. They sat like that for a moment before Jackie girl let her first question fly. "You said she was gone," she said. "How?"

Sam pulled in a deep breath and then let it out in a sigh. "I killed her."

"How?" Jack asked again. "How do you kill something that doesn't even have its own body?"

"She did once," Sam told her, voice whisper soft. "She's a demon and all demons were humans once. Now they're just the souls, twisted beyond all recognition. If you have the right kind of...blood running through your veins you can destroy them utterly."

"But how can you?" Jack's voice was very young and very lost as she peered down at her companion. "Sam, you're human."

"No," he told her with a bitter smile. "No, I'm not." Jack swallowed hard expression shocked. Riddick settled back in his chair, content to watch the situation play out. The kid was more relaxed with Jack than he was the con so he was more likely to open up to her.

"That's not possible," Jack insisted. "I've read your file. Your family is from Earth, old earth anyway. You're human."

"Not when a demon drips blood into your mouth when you're six months old," the kid replied, voice soft and head hanging. "That's when you become something else." Jack shook her head in denial.

"This isn't funny Sam."

"You think I don't know that," the kid yelled, bolting to his feet. Then he glanced down at his feet, arms wrapping around his stomach as he hunched in on himself. "I'm living this nightmare Kyra," he told her in a softer tone. "There's no escaping it. And every day I get a little closer to where they want me to be." Then he turned and left their rooms behind, bolting into the hallway as if he couldn't take the sight of them for one minute more. Jack was crying, tears dripping down her face. She tried too hard to be tough, to be unbreakable, but she was only fifteen and she'd had a lot dumped on her shoulders.

"Get some rest," Riddick told her. "I'll go track him down." She nodded without protest and made her way to her room, a silent shadow of the bright girl she normally was. The con left her behind, entering the hall and breathing in. The kid had a unique scent, especially among the Necromongers. Most Necros tended to smell like ozone and ice with just a hint of death and pain, barely there unless you knew what you were looking for. The kid, in contrast, smelled almost sickeningly sweet but with a hint of something bitter that rested just under your tongue and the bright copper of fresh blood.

The halls of Necropolis were far from empty, even at this time of night, but the kid's scent was distinctive enough that it made him easy to follow. Sam was leaving the most crowded hallways behind, wandering towards the empty ones as if searching for some place where he could break down in peace. Riddick finally caught sight of him around a corner and softened his footsteps so as not to be heard. He'd probably startle the kid when he was finally noticed but for now he could linger in the shadows until Sam calmed down.

The kid was hunched over in a shadowed corner of the empty hall, gasping and sobbing softly. His head was pressed against his knees, arms wrapped around them as he tried to keep still and silent. Every breath he took in was a shallow, wet gasp and the shuddering sobs that escaped him were obviously beyond his control. Riddick waited til the kid got control of his breathing and then stepped loudly enough that he knew he'd be heard. The kid's head shot up, face pale and streaked with tear tracks. Heartbroken, terrorized eyes studied Riddick for a moment before dropping as the kid's head pressed back against his knees. The con settled fluidly next to him without saying a word. Instead he watched as, slowly and reluctantly, the tension bled away from the kid's body and sleep won out against the urge to stay alert for signs of danger. Then, moving carefully so as not to wake him, Riddick picked the kid up and carried him back to his room.

* * *

_"It wasn't the full story, maybe not yet, but it was enough. The danger'd passed, the kid'd put himself back together again, and things were peaceful as they were gonna get on a ship full of Necros. But I don't believe in peace, not really. So when the next problem comes, I'll be ready." ___


End file.
